9 What would happen if…?
Every student receives one or two slips of paper with sentences like these on them: ‘What would happen if a shop gave away its goods free every Wednesday?’
‘What would you do if you won a trip for two to a city of your choice?’ One student starts by reading out his question and then asks another student to answer it. The
second student continues by answering or asking a third student to answer the first student’s question. If he has answered the question he may then read out his own
question for somebody else to answer. The activity is finished when all the questions have been read out and answered.
10 Spending money
Each student writes down what he would spend a given sum of money on, e.g. 50p, £5, £20, £50, £100, £500, £1,000, £5,000, £100,000. Students sit together in
small groups and describe what they have decided to buy with a particular amount of money and why they would like to make this purchase.
c. Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Communicative Games
Communicative games are chosen to trigger students’ participation in speaking activities because of some advantages below. Actually, the advantages are
closely the same as the benefits of games mentioned before, yet additional advantages are stated by
V. Lukianenko, Ph.D. 1
Games are a welcome break from the usual routine of the language class. 2
Learning a language requires a great deal of effort. Games help students to make and sustain the effort of learning.
3 They encourage students to interact and communicate.
4 They create a meaningful context for language use.
5 Games lower anxiety especially when played in small groups.
6 Games can involve all the basic language skills, i.e., listening, speaking, reading,
and writing, and a number of skills are often involved in the same game. 7
Many games can be played in small groups, thereby developing their interpersonal skills.
8 Games involve students in active learning.
9 They can encourage students to draw on analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
10 They foster a more positive attitude toward the classroom experience – more
attention, better attendance, and better participation. 11
They improve retention, decision-making skills, and comprehension of general principles.
http:interconf.fl.kpi.ua There are advantages therefore there must be disadvantages as well. Some of
the disadvantages of using games may be: 1
discipline issues, learners may get excessively noisy 2
straying away from the basic purpose of the game-play activity, perhaps, due to inadequate rules instruction, resulting in playing too much and the lack of
learning 3
if games are already familiar or boring, students might not get equally involved
4 some learners, especially teenagers, may find games unnecessary and childish.
Stojkovic and Jerotijevic, 2011 From the explanation above, it can be said that using games in teaching and
learning process have both advantages and disadvantages. Although using games is good and recommended, the teacher has to consider the disadvantages. The teacher is
expected to minimize the disadvantages of using games in order to be able to apply games successfully without any drawbacks.
d. A Teacher’s Tasks in Implementing Games
In implementing communicative games in the classroom, a teacher has to consider his her tasks. Several things have to be considered in order to get games
done successfully and implemented effectively in the classroom. Paul 2003 suggests seven main aspects that a teacher should do.
1 Designing game
In designing games, the teacher has to think of what the students need to learn. To meet the students’ needs, modifying games is considered as suggested
action. Modifying games are also necessary to achieve the goal of learning the target language.
2 Getting the pace right
When the games are on-going, the teacher sometimes needs to be in the game to see whether the games are too easy or too difficult and get the games precise with
the students’ language proficiency. The teacher has to make sure that students comprehend the target language they have to achieve during the games as well.
3 Answering questions
There must be many questions emerging from the students when they are playing the games, since they learn new words and rules. The teacher should assist
the students by answering some questions to get the games done well. 4
Extending the student’s ability The teacher has to create games which will get students leaving their comfort
zone. The games should be challenging and engaging that they will extend the students’ ability.
5 Cheating creatively
In playing games, individually or in a team, there must be sides that left behind. To make your students left behind too far from others, you have to be able to
cheat in a playful ways. 6
Giving all students a chance All students in the class have the same chances to participate in the games.
Everyone has to get involved in playing the games. The teacher is the one who is responsible to wisely arrange the team. The teacher has to encourage shy students to
participate and avoid the active students dominating the activity. 7
Taking a part The teacher cannot leave the students play the games alone without any
guidance or participation of the teacher. The teacher may take a part, yet do not be too dominant.
